Peavey Backstage Plus

87-A on the back plate leads me to believe it's an '87 model
Single input with volume utilizing a pre-gain/saturation/post gain set-up. Bright pull on the pre-gain knob. Low/Mid/High eq with a pull swith on the high eq knob. Reverb(which is amazingly good).
Pre-out as well as headphone jacks. 35 VERY loud watts. Footwith
jack in the back(mine was bought used, and didn't come with a footswitch) Single 10" speaker-(do the reviewers with 8" speakers just
not know how to read a tape measure?) Solid-state.

I've been playing guitar since '65 and playing Fender amps since '68.
This little brute rocks. I use it for Jazz with my '63 Guild CE-100D. Country with my '64 Gretsch Tennessean and Fender Nashville Deluxe Tele. Blues/rock with my '69 SG Standard. It works incredibly well for all styles. Very nice clean sound. Overdrive is not what you're going to have for Metal, but for a nice Cream-era Clapton tone, you can dial it up. Good point about not having your pre/post gain settings total more than 10 or 11. Set your pre at 4,
saturation at 5, and your post at 5-6 and with a good set of humbuckers you're in tone heaven.

For major gigs I will use my Fenders, however I constantly take this to local blues jams without backup. Never failed me yet.(knock on wood) Built like a tank. Bullet-proof. It weights nothing!!

I've had it about 10 years, and it was probably 8 years past warranty
when I got it. No issues.

OK, it's not the tone machine my Fenders are. I've got a Hot Rod Deluxe, Super Reverb, '66 Bassman head, Dual-Showman, and a speaker killing Super-Twin(thank God Fender quit making them!). This Peavey has the loudest 35 watts around, GREAT reverb, and a massive variety of tonal options. It weighs next to nothing. When I drag it into a blues jam it's funny to see the looks it gets from some of the tube-purists. My buddy thinks I've performed some tip-top Mojo on this thing to get such a nice warm tube-like overdrive.Would I buy another?
Saw one on craig's list last week for $50 bucks. By the time I called, it was gone. Somebody else knows about these units.

Mid '80s production SS 1x10 combo 35 watts LOUD
Suprisingly versitle, does every thing from a Fender clean to a Marshall growl,as usual W/ older amps we must warn the yougsters NOT A METAL AMP! (although it would be great as power for a pedal based metal rig)

Not really a channel switcher, it has a controllable one knob boost similar to a "fat' switch which PV called "Saturation" this is foot switchable W/ optional footswitch, has line in/out jack which can function as a basic EFX loop by using a Y cord, headphone jack..e band EQ with mid boost (pull the high switch) , and bright switch (pull the pre amp vol), pretty loaded for it's time, and discounting the lack of multi efx not bad for today..does have spring 'verb..which is footswitchable.

Sound's decent..has a nice bark W/ a Tele..not too bright, does OK W buckers, but seems to be at it's best W/ Fender style products..can be noisy at high gain, but again.. well see above!

PV products from this era were designed to last basicaly forever...

Incredible, this amp is over 20 years old& you can still get the footswitch and the Owners Manual from PV...try that with some of the other big makers. BTW if you have this amp and DON'T have the owners manual get on the PV website and download one..it's free and VERY informative..many people who think they don't like PV amps simply don't understand how they work, or how to set them.

20+ years playing,gear comes & goes, but this is a great small gig amp. Does all of the things that the incredibly overrated Fender Super Champ does and the PV is 1/4 the price!

35-Watt, solid state combo with a single 10" speaker (not 8" speaker like some have written below). Bought in 1985 new for $130 I think.

Very Loud Amp for 35W. I've owned it for 22 years and I've never got to play with the volume above 5/6 (even live). It's twice as loud as my Marshall MG30. Plays easily over un-mic'd rock drums.

The sound is not smooth, but rather punchy at high volumes; some might love that. With a strat it is very bright (must tone down the treble).

Spring Reverb is classic. Saturation is a lil muddy by today's standards.

They dont make them like this anymore. Like a tank, not like the stuff today made in China, etc. Never had an issue with this amp in 22 years.

No problems yet.

A solid 8 or 9. Not a 10 on tone in my book, but very nice.

bought new in late April 1984. one input. pre/post volumes. saturation. 3 band EQ. brightness pull pot. thickness pull pot. pre-in/power-out (i have no idea what that is...haven't used it except for recording at times - out seems to deactivate the speaker, so that i can hear the monitors). reverb (great reverb). headphone jack (too loud, will destroy your phones...they started to sizzle after one attempt to use the jack, never tried it again). 1 eight inch speaker.

my style is classic crunch rock [Zeppelin, Ramones, Mother's Finest], but i play everything from funk, jazz, mellow r&b, country and acoustic sounds [mid 80s Yamaha acoustic, sunburst with the spikey pickguard with Dean Markley pickup which sounds great, although i prefer to mic it].

my, how an opinion can change. when i first bought this amp i thought it sounded like an air-raid siren, but after reading the manual [pre and post volumes should NEVER equal more than 10...eg. pre at 3, post at 7 for clean.] and getting used to the solid-state tone, this amp has served me well for 23 years. although it is a practice amp, i have gigged for years with it and it is loud enough to be heard over a practice band [unless Tightrope is the drummer : )]. if more volume is needed, there has always beena PA in use, and it sounds great mic'd live with a humbucking guitar.

not as full as a tube amp, but i usually set the pre-volume at 6 and the post at 5 [ok so that's 11...but isn't that what we all want ?] with no problems, and the saturation at about 3-to-7 for more fullness and warmth. brightness switch "on" at all times, thickness switch "off" at all times. the thickness switch sounds horrible, even with single coil pickups. reverb at 2 [!!!] is enough to contour to a nice full round sound. more reverb will give you that exaggerated reverb sound that sticks in ppls minds, which i used at one point for "flash", but now i'm back to "tasteful". : )

have used it for 23 years without a backup. i have NEVER had a problem with this amp - other than when i first bought it, there was a "Burrrrrrrrt" buzz at certain frequencies. Tobo Sounds fixed it immediately and i have had NO PROBLEMS with it for 23 years [except for once a couple of years ago the power just died on me. then it came back to life with no explaination...and the time a couple of years ago when i was trying to outcrank Tightrope in a jazz group, by cranking it up to 15 and i started to get a sizzling buzz, but she seems to have calmed back down now.] for the record i will say relatively NO PROBLEMS regarding reliability.

never having had to deal with customer support rates a 10 in my book.

i have been playing for 32 years. i've been around and know what i like. i'm old school. i like a simple amp that sounds good for clean and distortion. i've never had high-end gear, although now i'm attempting to upgrade. i have played a 1969 orange competition stripe 3 pickup Mustang [Schaller S6 strat types, with a 1978 DiMarzio PAF in the middle] since '85 and since '98 an Epiphone Special II [stock - one volume, one tone, simple, and plenty of crunch]. i usually use amp distortion, and although an Ibanez TS-9 is the perfect sound (to my ears) i've never gotten around to getting one.

i also have an Epiphone Joe Pass that i haven't really played enough to give a qualified review, but on my few tries with it the Backstage Plus was not at all warm enough like it should be through a decent jazz amp. but "one never knows....do one" ? it may turn out to be servicable.

it's not a tube amp, but it has NEVER been in the shop either. back when it developed that buzz a coupla years ago, i checked out the newer Peaveys. the comparable red face-plate model seemed to sound and operate exactly the same as my 1984 Backstage Plus.

i am currently upgrading to a Valvestate or Ampeg for ampage. and getting either an Epiphone SG Custom or Fender Telecaster Deluxe (don't like the flat beck on the Tele though).

i also have a Schecter Omen-6 which is deliciously warm for mellower grooves. i have bought an AllParts LRO-B bullet trussrod, 7.25 radius neck for the Schecter [as i can't stand flat fretboards] that i haven't put on yet.

after reading reviews here for a few years, i felt i must make a report on the quality of this baby.

I own THREE of these 'Backstage Plus' amps. All 3 were made during the '80's according to the serial numbers. These are single-channel, 35Watt RMS solid state guitar amps, with 10" speakers and a good-sounding reverbs, plus a nice preamp saturation set-up.
I paid $95 for the most expensive to $55 for the least expensive of the three.
All three amps have been completely taken apart, repainted, chrome shined and all knobs repainted and coated with a poly clear coat to make them shine. All three are plenty LOUD even without using an effects pedal, but I always use a Boss GT-3 or a Korg so these 'Plus' amps are dangerous to stand directly in front of, so I rarely do!

I'd have to say these amps ARE loud enough for small venues as long as you aren't thrashing. But gigging is your intention, replace the stock speaker with an Eminence or similar beefy speaker that will breaks up nicely with good efficient power transfer.
The distortion is 'ok'..good crunch..take your TIME and be PATIENT with this and ALL Peaveys. There is a definate learning curve of trial and error mixing the EQ and the 'saturation' to obtain your 'tone'. These generally are NOT noisy amps, but some of those previous posters are real goofballs that have no idea how to treat musical equipment.. not maintaining their amps to make them last.. so they don't! So don't blame Peavey for your own lack of common sense.. abuse is a sign of laziness and lack of maturity.

I play good guitars: Fender and Gibson. Humbuckers DO sound better thru the Backstage Plus.. single coils do tend to sound thin.. but that can be a good tone too if you know how to utilize it.

Very dependable. I've had ONE Peavey bite the dust so far. I bought a 'Backstage 30' brand-new in 1979 in Phoenix, and in 2003 the power supply finally went bad. I gave the amp away to a music store. They fixed it and sold it. So it lives on locally with someone else.

I love Peavey Support and I love their website. They filled one order of parts for me this year: knobs & feet. Good price, fast enough delivery.

The warranty on all my 'Backstage Plus' amps are long-ago expired.

I've been playing since I was 14. I have lots of good gear, I don't scrimp on gear.. since you generally get what you pay for.
Have a early '90's Strat, and a much older Les Paul 'Black Beauty' Custom. Also a Korg pedal and two Boss GT-3 multi-effects pedals. I own more Peavey amps than is allowed by law, so I'm soon going to be giving two of them away to people I love. One is a 'Backstage 30' that I bought only last Wed on eBay. I restored this 31 year-old amp to a very good condition..replacing the speaker and power cord plus plenty of paint and 'Armour-All'. Looks and sounds great!

I have no idea when this amp was made. I was looking for the smallest amp that I could find that had reverb and a foot switchable distortion. I found it used in a music store an purchased it for $125. Probably the best money I have ever spent on an amp. I have a black face twin that I have been carrying around since the 60's and 5 hernias later I decided to find an amp that would work for most gigs. I have only used the twin twice in the last 15 years. I love it but can't carry it.
The backstage plus if very versitle. And has great tone usually. Sometimes if I have to play really soft it is hard to get the sound I want. It is a used instrument and when I crank it up with distortion it makes some really scary sounding noises. I thought it was the speaker but tried a diffent one and it didn't help. I took it to someone to check out and he said it wasn't worth fixing the problem. I dissagree if it is fixable and will someday look for a second opinion. I have used it for jazz, blues, rock, country, and at school where I taught for class and after school jams. It always worked and was loud enough. I even purchased a Bandit 65 to have more volume, but hardly ever use it.
A great feature is the trebble pull switch for a fat tone. The one on my pre gain doesn't work so I don't know how it sound. I also like that it has treble, mid range and bass tone controls.
I tried running a line out to the sound system and didn't care for the sound. We usually use a mike if we are recording through the system.

I have played a Fender tele, a Fender Strat, a Gibson Les Paul Signature, a G & L tele, and a Graziano Hulicaster ukulele. It works well with all of them because of the tonal variety you can dial up. It's more guitar sounding on the ukulele than I like but it is fun if I want that sound. This uke works great with distortion and wah, but usually I go through the sound system or a Roland Keyboard amp.
You have to add some pre gain to get volume out of the clean channel, so, you have to be careful to not get distortion. The nice thing is that if you take your time setting it up you can get a little crunch with the volume up an your guitar and clean with it down a little. I like the reverb sound compared to all of the new amps I have tried. I play in a Hawaiian group that does some surf music and I like the spring reverb sound after using a twin for all these years before.
I like the variety it gets, but I am more of a jazz, blues sound of person. My students like all the new pedals etc. But they loved the sounds of my pod running through it.

This amp has been like a good luck charm for reliability. I have never taken a backup and I know it has a problem at high distorted volumes, but it always works. My twin needs tubes every time I turn around. I keep looking for an amp that I like more that is small enough to carry but so far no luck. This thing has really been a great asset to my music life.

I know nothing about customer service.

I've been playing since 1957. I have 2 tele's, 1 strat, a Les Paul Signature, Fender pro junior, Kustom kga 10 fx and a black face twin. I have already started to look for another one, because I don't know how long this amp is going to live.
I love the weight, the tone controls, reverb and distortion.
I am constantly comparing it to my other amps and it really does hold it's own. I choose it because of it's size and having a good sounding reverb and distortion. We bought a newer one for school and it sounded really bad.
I wish it had a direct out that kept the tone. (I need to try the headphone jack, but, then I'll loose the monitor value of it. )
Weight for weight this little amp is great.

Purchased new in '87, and i am pretty sure it is an '86 model. I bought it at the time as a small practice amp. 10" with 35 watts, single channel, three tone adjusts, a saturation feature, effects loop, headphone jack, real reverb.

It mostly sat in various closets for something like 15 years, it really didn't compare to the distortion that I got out of my Fender Twin, so I just didn't play it. It still looks new, and the power cord tag is still on it. Then in the last year or two when i was looking for a small solid state amp to play jazz/clean on i took it out and started reconsidering it.

Recently changed the speaker for a new Eminence Copperhead ($25 on Ebay), that was lots of bang for little buck.

It works well for around the house to small gigs. I should give it an 7-8 here for the saturation effect, but i am going to give it 9 because everything else is great and solid for a small light weight amp, and there is actually something useful in the saturation more on that below.

I couldn't get it to work for rock. The saturation, especially with the original speaker sounded like a million paper bags tearing at once. But... With a new speaker, and when i started using it for clean work, adding in the saturation in very small amounts, and fiddling with the pre/post a bit, i found that i could do a lot better at getting a light breakup tone, sort of a vintage sound. Played with a large archtop, i felt it did a good job nailing a Montgomery-ish tone.

Also I have used it by running the guitar into a 10 band EQ then putting the EQ in at the effects loop, bypassing the pre all together. This gets it a real clean, almost DI sound, and until i finally figured out the pre/post adjustments, it also eliminated the hiss i was getting using the preamp. You can dail out this hiss balancing the pre/post gain.

There is an 'art' to tweaking this thing.

I find it usuable. Like a lot of small amps it needs some room to breath. Played im my small 10x10 home office, everything sounds pretty crappy. But take into a bigger room, esp. with high ceiling and it sounds much better

VERY durable, i don't think they have the build quality in this class of amps like this any more. Real spring reverb. Made in USA, solid, chromed metal corners, and strap handles, heavy tolex, and sturdy grill cloth. You still see these things selling on ebay for as much as $150? go figure, not sure but i think that is about what i paid for it.

While it did spend alot of time in the closet, nothing seems to have failed yet

No Idea

Good enough for clean work, with 35 watts it is loud enough for small gigs, in the right forum (small ensemble/light drums, jazz group, solo, etc). I had it all these years really couldn't use it much, i now have found a music style that seems to suit it better, and I found the magic hand shake to get what i want out of it.

A modern upgrade speaker is a real big imrpovement that is if the guts are all still in order, mine was.

If it were stolen, i might try to find one on Ebay for $50-$100, spend $50 for after market speaker. I haven't seen a new one with this tone for those price points. And it is solid compared to the latest Chinese fare. Now for $300-$400, i would probably look at a Roland Cube 30/60 or maybe a small Fender.

Single channel, pre(pull for bright boost), saturation, post, low, mid, high (pull for thick aka mid boost), reverb, fx loop, headphone out, and on the back a footswitch jack for saturation and reverb defeat.

This one was made in 1986, and it is the second one of these I've owned. The first was one I bought from a friend used and it was made in 1984.

As I said this is my second one. Wish I never traded in my first one! I went through a number of rigs lookng for "that sound". A late 60's Fender Bassman, a Marshall bluesbreaker reissue, a couple of Vox AC15TBX reissues (ones I also wish I never got rid of). My first guitar was a Les Paul copy and didn't have that sound I was looking for with the Peavey. The Bassman was closer, and the Marshall was it, but 50watts is LOUD! After changing styles a bit I went for the classic Rickenbacker into a Vox sound. Great sound, just not that versitile. So after quitting for a bit (ok, ok money problems came and went and so did the rigs and axes..LOL) I picked up a Squier Strat for cheap money. Found this Peavey for cheap money and man! The tone it has with the Strat is unbelievable! This is the combo this amp needed all those years ago! The sound is fuller than others I've heard with this setup (I use 11's on the Strat for a fatter tone) and the reverb is as lush as, dare I say, A Deluxe or Twin reverb. Good clean tones and decent distorted sounds (aka Layla album) although not quite as good as a tube amp, but it is close. Sort of like a Tweed Champ, but with reverb.
The first Backstage + I had was not that noisy with the humbuckers, but with the Strat, this one has the typical hum to be expected with single coils. Its ok though, adds to the sound! A great practice/club amp. (doesn't everyone mike through the PA now anyway?) If I had to give this one up I would buy another in a heartbeat. But for now I'm not giving it up!

Its a Peavey, need I say more?

More reliable than my old Bassman, or my second Vox AC15 reissue.

Neither one of the Backstages I owned had a warranty, both were used, but I suppose the warranty would have run out around the time The Smiths broke up!

Peavey's website is great, I dealt with them years ago to get an owners manual for my first Backstage, now its even easier. Its on the website as a PDF file!

Fantastic amp for a Strat player looking for a versitile recording amp or practice amp.

If it were lost or stolen I would buy another. But for now I'm not letting history repeat itself by getting rid of it! Its mine, get your own!!! LOL

Year: It says 86D on the back label. Amp runs great.

Writer / Producer - playing blues rock with a '74 Fender Tele guitar modded with EMG pickups. I use the neck pickup in my home project recording studio. Since the guitar has active pickups, this amp rocks when playing with a live band/drums. When recording, I use low volumes on the amp (NYC Studio Apartment) - and still get a great sound. I use SM57 mics into a Telefunken v76 mic pre cranked up very high into a Dbx160A compressor into a Mona 9624 ADDA converter recording at 9632.

General playback settings: Pre (2/3) / Sat (3) / Post (4/5) / Low EQ (6/7) / Mid EQ (6/7) High EQ (9). Rvb (3).

Sometimes I use brightness, but generally it's off. Read this forum and cleaned the jacks w/WD40 and the contacts. Let it dry. If you turn the amp on when still wet with WD40, you'll soon see smoke if any got on the transformer! Opened the head and cleaned out dust especially making sure 1/4" input jack contacts were working ok (bent then back into place). Reverb unit had faulty RCA jacks (broken wires soldered to the RCA jacks). Replaced with quality RCA jacks.

If noise appears, it usually is due to:
1. Another electrical appliance (Vornado fan) plugged into the same electrical outlet as the amp. Turning off the fan cuts off amp noise.

2. Position of guitar. See 1 first.

Use minimum distortion (Saturation: 2 / 3) . I like clean rock blues tone. Use pedals when necessary.

Open the head and check contacts of the input jack. Check reverb RCA jacks. Other than that it holds its own.

Downloaded manual off website!!

I use the Juicer pedal by Analogman - it makes this amp rock even more. www.analogman.com

By dating some of the Electrical parts, and by the serial number, I've figure this amp was made the last week of 1985 and the serial number is from 1986. (says 86A or 6A).

I basically play, classic rock and blues along with counrty. and this amp is perfect for those styles.

It's a single channel amp, the layout is just like your typical early 80's Peavey product. The only thing that sucks about this amp is that it should of had a Volume knob for Clean channel. But other than that I have no other beefs with it.

I would like to mention, having dealt with other Peavey products made around this time, the output jacks do get pretty shitty and need to be clean with a contact cleaner or WD-40. Mainly the one on the foot switch, if this jack get dirty, it will make your Overdrive/ distortion really weak sounding. Also typical of old Peavey's, My control knobs sounded like they have sand in them, I sprayed some cleaner into them and now they're fine.

I love the reverb on this amp, as somebody mentioned, it's REAL and I would like to also point out that the tank dates back to 1976.
( Peavey must of had some old shit lying around) I hated the Pre Out/ Pre In jack, so I removed the headphone jack and use the hole to make an effect loop out, so now I don't need a Y-cord to have the effect loop function.

If your a young punk who wants heavy assed distortion to the point is sounds like mush, then this amp is NOT for YOU. But if you like a sweet rock/ blues tone, and everything in between, for a SS amp this thing does kick some ass! one thing I wish it would have is, more dynamics mainly when using a strat ,when you roll down the volume knob,it doesn't clean up as much as I would like. but, if you use a TS-9 pedal set to clean you can roll down the guitar volume, it's got it going on.

It's a vintage Peavey, this mutha is built like a tank! need I say more?

found the phone number on a tag which was still attached to the power cord! I called it and to my surprise it's the same number for Peavey, I talked to a tech and he gave my their web address and I went there and downloaded the user manual. warranty? LmFaO!
uh,It went out during the cold war!

been playing since 1980, I went through loads of gear, so I do know a thing or two about this subject....

Bottom line, It's kinda sad to see how far we come. back when this amp was made, it had some quality and it was built in the USA. Most important... it was sold cheap. yea, I know,I know.... it's a SS amp so it can't be that good. that's a load of bullshit. one thing,the old Peavey's have that ANY of these new SS amps DON'T is: TONE!!! New amps are made in God knows where and Out of crap to boot. it's funny, because you can find a old Peavey 2X12 combo for like $150.00 and for tone, it will SMOKE any modeling amp out there. I don't give a rip about how many new digtal effects are built into the amp,it still sucks! These,and any vintage Peavey amps are great buys and are well worth owning.

-I don't know what exact year this speaker was made in, ...but from what I understand it was made somewhere in the mid '80s. It's been our home for a long time, ....when my dad bought it, I was only 8 or 9...and now i'm 26, ....so it's been around for a while.

-The amp is perfect for practice and pretty versitile for most things. It's not an amp for really harsh playing though, ...won't cut it for that

-it has knobs for pre and post gain, presence, high eq, mid eq, low eq, reverb, and you can accentuate the highs if you pull on a certain knob.

-I use this amp in my home for practicing, ...it's not a good amp for playing live because there's not enough power, ...the only use it has for live is if you are going to use it's pre amp as part of an efx loop going to the main board. But otherwise, don't count on it for anything live. I find that for practice at home, ..it sounds really good....you can get that clean warm sorta-dirty sparkly sound out of it which I enjoy very much

-this is a solid state amp (ie not tube)

-The guitar I use with this is a Schecter C-1, ...it has 2 humbuckers

-the speaker sounds fine with the style of music which I play at home which is anything from classic rock, to country to christian stuff, ..to jazzy sounding things. If you're practicing in these styles, this speaker will work.

-if you crank the volume up more than 2/3 of the way it starts to get noisy, ...i never need to crank it up this high for practice at home, ..so it's not an issue.

-As far as sounds you can get anything from clean and polished, ...to dirty and grungy, ......to a mix of both, .....to very distorted ......it does it's best jobs for anything that is not too harsh...dont' count on this speaker for metal or anything like that. It's good for 'slightly' distorted edge to the sound, ..but not more than that. My favorite setting is when i push the pre gain up about 2/3 of the way and pull the post gain down to about half way, ..and add a touch of reverb, ...gives my guitar that really clean sparkly and slighty dirty sound, ..i like it alot

-don't count on this speaker for extreme distortions, ..it's not brutal, ..it'll start sounding lame if you push it too much...thins out

considering this speaker has been sitting in our house for almost 20 years, ...i would have to say it is a very well made speaker. We have never had any problems with this speaker. It's built like a tank. Its been dropped many times ...and it's still working great. very very dependable

never had to deal with them

great speaker for practice for anything from classic rock to jazz to country to anything in between, ...but don't count on it for anything too harsh (ie extreme distorted lead, ..metal etc)

overall,..great for what it was made for: that's practice.

35-Watt solid state combo amp with a 10? speaker. I really don?t know how old it is I bought it used. I would guess early to mid 80?s. This amp does OK with the bells and whistles for it?s size and what it was designed for, one input, gain, (pre. and post) with saturation which was a peavey thing. Pull on the pre-gain for bright. E.Q. with low, mid, and high. (Pull on the high for thick) which will boost the mid-range. Reverb and it?s the reel thing not digital, preamp out/power amp in all on one 1/4? jack so if you have a ?Y? cord it can be used as a FX loop or with standard guitar cord go right to a PA or mixer. Headphone jack and a footswitch jack for reverb and saturation.
The amp does alright for what it was bought for. I use it mainly for practice and light jamming and some recording.

It?s not all that bad for being solid state. I?ve been playing for almost 40 years and I know what tone I want out of an amp. And this one gives it to me. My main amp right now is a Fender Deluxe. So I want a good clean tone. I play mostly blues with a heavy jazz influence. Both with a 62 reissue Strat and a Guild Starfire. The Strat is a little less noisy than the Guild but that?s probably because single-coil vs. Humbucker?s. You have to play with the EQ and Pre-&-Post gain for a good tone I find if I turn the Post-gain between 7 and 10 and the Pre-gain no more than 3 or 4 that work?s well. I set the EQ to, low at 8, the mid between 2 and 4, and the same with the high and I get a pretty good clean sound. If I want a little more volume I rase the Pre-gain, or sometimes up the Pre and lower the Post depending on how noisy it is, this amp has somewhat of a hum to it. The distortion isn?t all that good on this amp it sounds somewhat flat or washed out when I use the thick it dose help. The reverb work?s great but it will feedback if it?s set to high. The amp does not like high volume it will get very noise very fast but it really wasn?t
designed for that.

It?s a solid state Peavey. I don?t think they can break.

I?m very happy with this amp it suits my needs well. It?s not what I would call high end or a top shelf amp, but it does it job and does it very well. If something did happen to it I?d look for anther one. There has to be a ton of them out there after all there built like tanks. If your into heavy metal or hard rock this is not the amp for you. It just doesn?t have the head room for it. But if you need a small amp for recording or practicing this is it.

Plenty of features for its price + size.

I had sold a fender m80 combo a while back and wanted a small, loud amp for small gigs, rehearsals, etc, and someone recommeded these.

Surprisingly good for what it is.
Now for the spooky bit: I have a heap of real and copy vintage amps + speakers (all the good stuff, fender. marshall, vox, etc) and I have been recording lately. Guess what I've been using...trick is that I used a valve pre before going into the Peavey and most things sound very good. I did a gig a few weeks back with my 57 Les Paul Junior and a stomp box or two, and it sounded very good indeed (no valve pre) although repeating with my Les Paul Standard (humbucker) wasn't as good as the P90.

Fine so far (and mine is a used one, don't know its history) and relaible.
Input jack can be touchy.

Have tons of other gear, and tons of geetars.
Have found this little amp a very good all-rounder, usable tones, usable reverb, quite rugged + well made, reliable, compact, good for small live gigs and recording. In some ways a much better amp than you would think. Recommended! I'd have another one or a similar one if this one went elsewhere. I haven't done a lot of comparing, but I guess it is a similar kinda amp to my old M80. Getting a reasonable spring reverb at this price is a bonus.

The amp has its fair share of features. I only want 2 channels, reverb, an eq, and gain, and it has all that and more. like bright switch, thick switch, and a headphone thing, so i'm set. I use this amp only for practice cuz i cant drag my halfstack around, that's actually the only reason i bought this amp, i needed a small combo, loud enough for practice, and i happened to have $200 in my pocket, then i saw this and bought it. BTW, its solid state

So far i've only used it with a '76 reissue Gibson Explorer and it sounds really good for a 100% solid state amp, not as good as a Marshall solid state, but pretty good none the less, better than fender's solid states if you ask me, i played a fender deluxe 90 and it totally sucked. It suits my style ok, i play a lot of Oasis-esque stuff. Its not very noisey either. The clean is pretty clean at high volumes. The distortion is heavier than i need it so i never crank it. I'll rate this compared to other solid states cuz if i rated this against my Marshall JCM2000 DSL, i would just give it a 2, if that, but compared to other solid states, id say....

its a solid state, what can i say?

never dealt with them

I'm in a pretty serious band now (my first actual serious band) and this is very convenient. I just leave it at my drummer's house so whenever we have practice, i just bring one of my gibsons. if it were stolen, i'd buy the peavey envoy, only because this was the only backstage plus they had left and the envoy was only $209. Nothing i really love about it, except how convenient it is. I compared it to an old vox cambridge, and considering the fact that the vox crackled and popped more than rice krispies and there was just a shit load of static and even with the bass on 0 and treble on 10, it sounded like bass was on 10 and treble was on 0 and no im not stupid enough to get them mixed up, i even had the sales man fool around with it, but that's the only amp i compared it to, and also considering teh vox was $300 and much worse than this amp, i decided to get this one. I wish it had tubes, about 65 more watts, no speaker, just a head, 2 reverb channels, 2 channels with 4 modes, a presence control and a stand by switch, but if it had that, i'd be back where i started from. Oh well, i think this amp is good for beginners or for practice. For me, it was a great value, Rock on!

35-Watt, solid state combo with a single 10" speaker. Other features include reverb, saturation(gain), effects loop, and head phone jack.

This amp is no longer with me today, but at the time I was using a Memphis Strat copy, a boss DS-1 distortion and PH-1R phaser. The amp was ok for practice, but it could not hanle live playing very well. The distortion chanel sounded good if you turn the "pre-gain" volume up at lest half way and the saturation on 10. You could then set the overall level with the master volume. The problem is that if you want to switch back to the clean chanel it gives you a jagged, unwanted distortion, not the smooth break up of a tube amp. At low volumes the amp sounded ok, but definately not a sage worthy amp. I guess that's why they call it the "Back Stage" Plus.

It never gave me a problem, like most solid state amps it is very dependable.

N/A

This was my very first amp (the Memphis was my first electric guitar also). It was a learning experience and it was fun to play around with. I don't knock solid stat amps as I am in the process of looking for one now (maybe the Trademark 60). This amp is no longer made, but I guess if you had no other choice or just wanted somthing to fool around with at home this might be an amp to look for (used of course). I sold it several years ago to a keyboard player who actually liked the way it sounded with his Korg O1-W so I guess I could recomend it for keyboard players as well.

2 channel solid state practice amp. Gain, Saturation and Volume, not labled as such, but those are the first 4 knobs. 3 band passive EQ, which comes BEFORE THE PREAMP. Which means if you want to scoop/boost mids or really alter the tone of the distortion, you're out of luck.
HUGE reverb. This thing sounds like a giant empty school gym, really bright, too. The Post gain(volume)also controls the reverb send.
2 button footswitch input,reverb/ saturation.
The peavey Saturation crcuit is goofily arranged, in my opinion. The pre-gain sets the overall input volume, which I believe is intended to be set for a clean tone with the saturation off. The thing is, if you turn it up with the saturation on, it increases distortion, while turning up the saturation knob increases high harmonics in the distortion and sounds more, well, saturated. So you have all kinds of distortion voicings, some quite usefull. Pull bright on the Pre gain, mid boost on high EQ, once again, before the preamp.

My suggestion is to BREAK THIS AMP!
This thing was an OK practice amp before I broke it. Now it has a GREAT leadtone, still solid state in overall quality, but closer to power tube distortion than any other SS amp I've heard. Unique, responsive, compressed, and very transparent. For the best sound I can get out of this amp, I turn the saturation off, the pre gain to at least 5,sometime to 10. A boost pedal and the controls on the guitar give me a huge amount of tonal variety. I usually roll the tone on my guitar off, but sometime the brightness of this amp is desirable, so I open it up, and flip the bright switch on.
I use an Ibanez Universe, usually plugged directly into the amp, sometimes I use a Boss Hyper Fuzz to get a harsher sound at low volumes, IE, when I'm using this as a practice amp.

How I broke this amp:
turning everything to 10, with a cheap overdrive pedal with everything on 10 into it, with my 5150's preamp out with everything on 10 into that, with a broken archtop into that. left it on for about 10 minutes. I recorded this.
How I think you should do it:
Take any distortion pedal with alot of volume(any boss should do, Visual sound don't have much output, DOD would to, too), turn everything to the max, then run an EQ pedal with everything on the max into that. turn the Pre gain and saturation knobs to the max, turn the post up high enough to get your guitar string feeding back and let your guitar feedback for a good long while. Or play through that noise.
This will give you basically no clean tone, but more sustain, smoother tone and an overally more 'natural' sound.

Oh, and this thing gets LOUD! I can hardly belive it's 35 SS watts. The power amp distortion isn't as musical as the preamp, but it is usable. Not tube like, but usable.

I broke it and it still works, the cords to the reverb tank are breaking, but that's probaly for using it to haul cables and pedals.
This was my first amp, and I'll never get rid of it.

I've never had ANY trouble getting help from Peavey with amp troubles. Their website's very informative.

I'm hoping someday to get a tone like this with a real tube amp. The Fuchs Audio Overdrive Supreme sounds about right. Now I just need to find an ould junky tube amp and save up.
This amp can be had for $35. If someone broke it first, less, and it saves you the trouble.
This is possible the best value in a bluesy solid state amp.

Just make sure it's broken.

35W 10" speaker, reverb (when it works) and distortion, foot-switchable.

I use it with an Ibanez AF-120 for traditional quartet and trio jazz. With a touch of reverb, I can get a surprisingly nice, full-bodied mellow tone that I much prefer over that of larger and more expensive amps. It's okay for practice or a quite dinner gig, but breaks up at higher volumes. With the distortion up, it sounds like a typical little solid-state amp.

The itty-bitty wires in the reverb unit have broken oh...several hundred times. Everything else has worked without problems for the past 14 years.

Never dealt with them.

For the money, this was a fabulous value. I'd love to get the same tone in a larger amp with more headroom.

I got this back in the mid-80s when I was first learning to play. It replaced a whimpy Gorilla amp.

I thought it was so cool with it's foot pedal for reverb and distortion. It had hi/lo/mid and pull knobs for thick and thin. Pre- and post- volume knobs. The norm.

Well, it has been a great bedroom amp for the price for over 15 years. It ain't a Marshall or a Fender or whatever. Then again, it didn't come at Marshall, Fender or whatever prices.

It's a solid state, so you get the unremarkable tone. Obviously, you get the convenience of never having to replace a tube or having to let it warm up.

It's noisy now, but it is 15 years later and it has been through a lot. It used to be pretty quiet, so I can't completely fault it for it's show of age.

Even now, it still has a better tone than other solid-state amps in it's price range.

Omigod, it has been through wars. It looks worn, but it is still intact.

I do admit that the reverb has gone out on me twice. After fixing it once, I've just decided to let it die.

As for the noise I get out of this thing. Sure, it's had a hard life, but I would have expected it to last a bit longer than 15 years.

There could have been some better design in the amp's reliability.

Dude, the warranty expired on this thing when Reagan was President. I have never spoken to Peavey.

It was good, in the way that Suzanne Summers used to be hot.

It gets points for a long-relationship with me. However, it's old and it is time for me to find a new playmate.

Nonetheless, it will always stay with me for sentimental reasons.

I bought this as my first decent amp back in 1986. Well, it was decent enough for a high school kid. Single channel, 35 watts, distortion, reverb, the basics. I used it for rock/metal in my old band. It wasn't really loud enough for band practise, but we used it anyway, pushing it to its limit (and beyond) week after week.

At the time, I was using an El Degas '70s Strat-knock off. It didn't sound horrible, didn't sound great. My big name El Degas-Peavey setup got us through some Zeppelin, Ozzy and Hendrix covers. The amp sounded okay when I first bought it. A little thin, of course, it's not a tube amp. But the brutal treatment it received (crrrrrranked all the time, usually with a Tokai Overdrive pedal attached for solos) really affected the sound after awhile. The distortion became less smooth and more sizzling, which I don't like. And all that abuse made the clean sound distorted. Hey, it was a decent amp for what it was -- thus the rating.

It kept taking abuse and never refused to power up for me.

Never dealt with Peavey.

Well, after my band days, I used this amp for a few more years, and then it sat in my basement until I gave it away last year. I've moved on to better amps, but I have to say the Peavey did what I needed it to do at the time. It was spent after all the abuse. It wasn't the best amp in the world, but I'd say I got my $235 out of it.

What would you expect for 1oo.oo$. EQ, Reverb (not on this one ,broke)Clean/bright, Thick,saturation,gain. foot switch phone jack. Every thing a beginner might look for in a 35 watt amp.

I have a ibanez with hummers and it dose great, also use it for my acoustic(piezo and Dean markley pro). I,ve experimented with all different kinds of settings but go back to the factory suggestion that came with the amp. I play various styles and I'm happy with its performance.

I haven't played in front of a crowd as of yet,but do plan to and i'll will use it.

Bought it used.

Been playing for 4 years. saw this used at a guitar shop, plugged in my guitar and like the way it sounded. If it were stolen... and I came across another..yes I'd buy IT! Its a compact amp, it's really everything I was looking for at the time. There are other amps that may sound better(in-line 6), but there are soooooo many to compre to. I guess its what fits the bill at the time!!!

The Amp is a single channel amp with realy good reverb. There is a pre in pwr out input a foot swithch input (but i don't have the footswitch) and a headphone jack. It also has two pull knobs one for pre or bright the other for high or thick. You can get some pretty good sounds from different combonations of the bright or thick.

Sounds like crap if you use single pickups, but if you have humbuckers its great. I haven't experenced any problems with noise and have even used it live on stage. Clean is a little distorted at high volumes but still sounds good.

The amp is great and very reliable. I found it trown away out side a house on trash day and took it home. I don't know why the person threw it away; it still works and I haven't had to have any service done to it at all.

Good amp for begginers or anyone else who likes the sound it gives. If it were stolen i would try to buy another. Great amp for the price I paid NOTHING!

some of the features this amp has are nice, like the foot pedal, but it is lacking in many of the much needed areas.

this amp sounds like the cheap amp it is. You get what you pay for in this amp. The distortion is ok, but doesn't give you the good hard sound like metallica or nirvanna. It is hard to get a loud clean sound out if it.

Darn thing just keeps working so I have no excuse to buy a new one.

not a clue!

This amp is not all that great, espeically for strat players. Most of the good distortion is the low quallity speaker distorting. It might be okay for a dorm room amp, but if you ever want to play a gig, good luck!

Its about 10 years old, I bought it used in pretty good condition. Its all transistor. It has built in reverb and footswitch support (but didn't come with a pedal). Can get some really crunchy distortion out of it.

On my Fender Strat Plus, it sounds really crappy. The sound is very small and thin. It sounds real nice on my Les Paul Studio, but it on my Les Paul you can't really hear my effects on it.
Warning: Wah-wah pedal sounds terrible out of this thing!

Like a rock.

Never dealt with them.

It's great for beginners, but doesn't get great sound, so don't expect to get mind boggling tones out of it. If you have a strat or a strat clone, this amp probably isn't a good choice.

For features, it has: 35 watts, solid state, 3-band EQ, Volume Pre & Post, spring reverb, Bright and Thick pull knobs, and distortion. Input for a footswitch and preamp as well. It only has 1 channel, which sucks, you have manually change to distortion, but i don't use the amp distortion anways. I used this amp for everything, but the 35 watts just wasn't loud enough. I made a custom cable, because there is no jack for extension cabinet, and hooked it up to my 4x12. It sounded a lot better, but after awhile, i bought a Marshall head.

Since this is the only combo amp I have, I am forced to use it at jam sessions and gigs where I cannot bring my halfstack. It has an amazing clean channel and the reverb is great too. I play a lot of blues and rock and this amp can do it. Sounds great for doing leads. I don't use the distorion, I have a pedal for that. When the pedal is on, it sounds great through this amp.

They don't make these anymore, it's not one of those new Transtube models. My cousin gave it to my because he bought a bigger amp. He's in a professional rock band and has used it for recording and gigs, so it has seen its fare share of action. He never had a problem with it, and in the 6 months I've had it, neither have I.

I don't think I'd buy this amp again, only because of the 35 watts. If it came as a 100 watt head, I'd buy it in a second. I love the clean reverb sound this amp puts out and how it sounds with my distortion pedal. The clean channel is probably better that the Marshall. I wish it had a jack for an extension cabinet.

Pre Gain (pull Bright), Saturation, Post Gain, Low, Mid, High (pull Thick), Reverb, Pre amp out/power amp in, and headphone out. The Saturation and reverb is Foot switchable. The controll of the tone is fair.

I bought this amp used and it sounded good at first. I was really in to nirvana, hole, sound garde, Etc. But then I got into Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, and the blues and classic rock (Led Zepplin) and the amp's tone started to suck. I then went FENDER!

Man I can't say enough about Peavey's relibility! This amp has fallen off a truck 3 times, fallen off of a desk (due to short cables and walking too far!) 2 times, and been dropped while carrying it too many times to mention! Since this the reverb is shot and I bent the input jack. The reverb was'nt much in the first place so there was no big loss there, and the jack was easy to bend back!

I have never dealt with Peavey.

If you are a beginner buy a PEAVEY amp! It will last you! Mine is around 25 years old and still kicking! It is very light, which is a plus for anyone. Would I buy it again? No, because my style of music has changed, but it was well worth the money spent.